Ideo’s David Kelley talks design, Steve Jobs

Ideo’s Dvid Kelly’s design

Meet one of the most innovative thinkers of our time. He is a man who has had an enormous impact on our everyday lives.

Design of Ideo’s David Kelly

David Kelley is the founder of the Silicon Valley global design firm Ideo. His company has created thousands of breakthrough inventions, including the first computer mouse for Apple, the standup toothpaste tube, and a better Pringle for Procter & Gamble. Ideo may be the most influential product design company in the world.

Kelley was a longtime friend and colleague of Steve Jobs — “He made Ideo,” Kelley tells Rose — and he is a pioneer in something known as “design thinking,” an innovative approach that incorporates human behavior into design.

David Kelley: “The big thing about design thinking is it allows people to build on the ideas of others. Instead of just having that one thread, you think about it, I come up with an idea, and then somebody from somewhere else says, ‘Oh that makes me think we should do this,’ and then we could do that. And then you get to a place that you just can’t get to in one mind.”

If you follow David Kelley around Ideo, you can see how he has infused that thinking into the legendary Palo Alto firm he founded more than 20 years ago. Breakthrough ideas happen every day here.